How To Upgrade The Hard Drive And Memory In An Aluminum Mac Mini

The Mac Mini by Apple is a small form factor desktop PC that is shipped without a display, keyboard, or mouse. Measuring around 7.7 inches (196 mm) square and 1.4 inches (36 mm) tall, the gadget approximately weighs 2.7 pounds. Owing to its highly portable and excellent productivity features, the device can be easily accompanied on travels, business tours, and other vacations. All the server model versions during the late 2009 and 2010, before mid-2011 revision, came with an internal optical disc drive that serves as a consumer level Macintosh desktop. The Mac Mini is one of the three most prominent desktop solutions offered under the current Macintosh lineup and the other two are the iMac and Mac Pro.

The small sized remote computer allows a user to add a separate display, keyboard, and mouse to transform this box like thing into a full-blown PC. A special Server version of the system is created to form a small network that can function as an edition of the OS X operating system (OS). The updated unibody Mac Mini can easily cater to your needs related to productivity, entertainment, and gaming with the incorporated HDMI video port, which lets you connect the device to a television or other display.

Some users are running on old version of this remote PC hence, follow the below mentioned steps to upgrade the hard drive and memory in an aluminum Mac Mini.

Steps to upgrade the hard drive in an aluminum Mac Mini

(To upgrade the same, you will need T6 and T8 screwdrivers, and a new 2.5-inch hard drive or solid-state drive with the maximum height of 9.5mm)

Step1. Flip the device over and twist it counterclockwise to remove the back cover.

Step2. Carefully remove the three screws that are holding the fan in place by using T6 screwdriver.

Step3. Now, remove the fan by gently lifting it up and disconnecting the cable attached to the motherboard.

Step4. Look for the other T6 screw located at the bottom of the plastic guard and remove them using the screwdriver.

Step5. Take out the plastic component out of the Mac Mini’s case and place it aside.

Step6. Next step is to remove the antenna grill that is held in place with four T8 screws. Remove all of them and lift the antenna grill gently to separate it from the motherboard.

Step7. As soon as, you’ll remove the antenna grill, you will be able to spot the hard drive. It will be located under the antenna grill and you will need to disconnect the drive connector from the motherboard, before removing the hard drive.

Step8. Patiently lift the drive up and take it out of the Mac Mini.

Step9. The drive will be protected by a black cover, remove it, and also remove the two T8 screws attached on the side of the drive. Once the screws are separated from the old drive, screw them into your new one.

Step10. Carefully remove the protective black cover from the old drive and disconnect the hard drive connector. Now, plug-in this hard drive connector into your new drive and place the black protective cover back on your new drive.

Step11. Adjust the two screws that you’ve taken out in step 9 as they will sit in the two slots inside the case to correctly place the hard drive in the device.

Step12. Now, place the drive back into original place and you can take help from a pair of tweezers, if it is not getting adjusted easily.

Step13. Once the drive is in proper place, attach the hard-drive connector again to the motherboard and place the antenna grill by securing it with the four T8 screws.

Step14. Get the plastic guard sit back into its original place and replace the T6 screw.

Step15. Reattach the fan cable to the motherboard and place the fan right into its position with the help of the three T6 screws.

Step16. Once you have fixed all the things back into place, you’re done! Congratulations as you have just replaced the hard drive of your Apple’s Mac Mini.

Step17. Place the back cover on the device again and turn it in a clockwise position to lock it.

Steps to upgrade the memory (RAM) in an aluminum Mac Mini

(To upgrade the same, you will need T6 and T8 screwdrivers and a new RAM of your preferred storage capacity)

Step1. Flip the device over and twist it counterclockwise to remove the back cover.

Step2. As soon as, you’ll remove the back cover, you will be able to spot the memory compartment.

Step3. Patiently spread the clips located at the top of the memory slot and wait till the memory stick pops up.

Step4. The memory sticks will now be a bit raised from their actual slots and you can easily remove them by pulling them out.

Step5. Replace the older ones with the new ones and insert them using the same procedure by applying negligible pressure on the device.

Step4. Once the RAM is inserted in the slot and you’re sure that it’s on the right place, then place the back cover on the device again and turn it in a clockwise position to lock it.

In this way you can easily replace the memory and hard disk drive of aluminum Mac Mini and use the device for better performance and productivity. Upgrading to more solid storage capacity and RAM will not only increase the speed on the device, but will also enhance your browsing experience, multi-tasking functionality to mitigate hanging and freezing issues. Although, no special skills and advanced technical expertise is required in this process, but in case you are new to PCs, it is always recommended to take help from tech experts. A little negligence or hurry may leave you worried for a couple of nights as you may accidently damage integrated circuits (ICs) on the motherboard or other vital hardware components of the device.

Brooke M. Perry is an ardent technician associated with Qresolve online tablet support, with wide experience of fixing issues with PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. With a strong track record of devising effective ways of tablet support and system security, she has so far helped thousands of users across the globe. Her writings on tech issues are the reflection of her in-depth interest and command she carries as a online pc repair technician. Her blogs and articles have been rated high for their lucid style and easy to understand language.